Search This Blog

Ranchi, Oh Ranchi

Finally, this visit to my hometown Ranchi is over and
frankly speaking, it wasn't too eventful. Even though, it started pretty well, it
ended up just being a shadow of my previous visits to Ranchi. When I alighted
from train at Ranchi Junction, I was quite enthusiastic having spent a night
with a beautiful RJ (before your mind starts racing, I should clarify that we
were sharing same compartment). Well why did I mention it? Maybe
after getting into IIT, my sparse encounters with pretty girls have become
worth mentioning. Moving on, as I stated the vacations had a nice beginning;
watching Talaash in a newly opened multiplex, wandering on the streets with my
best pal Swapnil, a nostalgic visit to my old school (DPS, Ranchi) and my not
so expected lunch with Shruti (considering her reluctance at previous occasions
) did certainly give me moments to cherish. But, unfortunately most part of my
trip remained dismal. With most of my friends absent, the idea of having fun in
the city seemed non-realistic. I thought this would give me more opportunities
to explore certain productive avenues. However, thanks to my untimely illness,
which ended up ruining more than half of my vacation, I couldn't pursue them
too. In my convalescence, I soon succumbed to my dull ways of whiling time
watching anime. By the time I recovered, Swapnil had already ditched me (I mean
figuratively, what I intended to mean was he had left Ranchi.) and thus devoid
of any hope of enjoyment I stuck to my laptop and passed reminder of my
holidays.

A random mobile snap

Being at the height of ennui, I decided to take a trip round
the city admiring the idiosyncrasies of a town that expanded in a
haphazard manner. Amid ubiquitous sights of construction you can always find a
picturesque location, carefully preserved from that universal race of modernisation,
which offers serenity by its existence and anxiety about its persistence in
continuously transforming landscapes. In all this, I noticed two other things that
have been oblivious to me earlier. First, how small Ranchi is; earlier I never
really cared about how huge other cities are or maybe Ranchi in herself was big
enough for me to bother about it, but now it was evident that Ranchi is too
small for me not just on a physical scale but philosophical too(my dreams need
a bigger sky). Second, this is a fact I was deliberately avoiding to
acknowledge, I no longer feel same sense of belonging that I used to feel for
my city. As a matter of fact, I feel a sense of detachment; maybe I had enough
of her.

Now as the end is near, at most couple of more years, I
finally decided to bid farewell to you before I get too occupied. You sheltered
me for 19 long years and have been my home ever since I gained enough
consciousness to recognize a place as home. You have witnessed my first day at
school at D.A.V. and the last at D.P.S., my first words in a cradle and my
first speech in school's auditorium, my first walk and my first flight as I
cleared JEE. You saw me laugh, cry, love, live, fall and rise as you yourself
rose from a small town to a capital city. You have been a mother's lap, a kid's
toy and a beloved's arm; I hope you won't be a dead man's veil. I
know it’s too early to bid a farewell, there are few more years, but I doubt I'll
get an opportunity to be so exhaustive with my emotions ever again, and
moreover it’s better to say it early than never. Goodbye Ranchi, here we part
as I seek a new abode.

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You look at your smartphone screen and try to calculate how much time will the cab driver take to finally reach your location. You acknowledge that, given the traffic in your city, the time you see on your screen may be quite off. You try to estimate whether you can squeeze in the final mail you want to drop before you call it a day. DROP, as if emails are bombs. They probably are. You click on the red compose button and, before the box opens, try to steal another peak. If ever every microsecond mattered, it is now. You start typing and notice how slow you are. You should have taken that touch-typing workshop in the college. Every 30 secs, you try to steal a peek at the dimly lit smartphone screen. You think you can pull it off. You have a mild sense of achievement and a smile sprinkled over your face. You are just there. You look back at the smartphone screen. The backlight is now turned off. You struggle to open the screen lock with one hand while typing the last line with another. …

Biting winds pierce by Ripping my soul into shreds Cold night that muffles me Whispers only of winter ahead. I dare not hope for a fireplace Nor heat of a rug do I aim I seek that flickering candle-light To help me have some warmth in dream Battered body, tattered soul Demand only one reply With goals lost and dreams crushed Why, o man, you still not die?

The above poem is merely a rephrasing of Robert Frost's poem A Question with my words and absorption of the core idea. The poem throws light on the immense pain and suffering that accompanies almost everyone's life; then, enquires meaning and worth of such an existence. Here is Robert Frost's original poem which is more lyrical and succinct. A voice said, look me in the stars, And tell me truly, man of earth, If all the body-and-soul scars Were not too much to pay for birth.

"I desire things that will destroy me in the end" -- Sylvia Plath While looking out of my balcony, I can always spot a single star in the sky. Probably with the pollution level in Bangalore , the dim ones are hard to spot. If it was southern sky, I could bet it was Sirius. But I don't know what direction it is in and I am too lazy to make any efforts to find out. Moreover the name of the star does not matter. However, it has a similar symbolic significance for me as green light had Fitzgerald's Gatsby. A dream well conceived , clearly visualised and yet beyond grasp. A dream thoroughly cherished and yet unattained. This brings me to another haunting question. How do people start dreaming whatever they start dreaming about? Frankly, it's Gatsby who comes to rescue. Gatsby's dream incidentally was a outcome of exposure to the girl( I wish I remembered her but I don't even care about finding right now) . We can't dream of things we cannot envisage. I t…

About Me

I believe nothing is definitive and thus, I can't really describe how I am. In actuality, how I am to X will certainly differ from how I am to Y. However, due to concurrence of opinion a majority of such X and Ys (my friends) I am forced to believe that I do possess certain traits which is witnessed by most of them. It is indisputable that I am more serious than I should be.
I am dogmatic(they all say and I always disagree, which eventually confirms their acquisition). I am weird and boring(disputable). However everything mentioned can be false as well. It depends on how much you know me..and frankly speaking you never know enough.
https://experientialism.wordpress.com/?p=2&preview=true&preview_id=2